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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


From ACM News

Blue Waters ­pdate

Effective August 6, 2011, IBM terminated its contract with the University of Illinois to provide the supercomputer for the National Center for Supercomputing...

Sysadmin Day Goes Global
From ACM News

Sysadmin Day Goes Global

It’s not unusual for system administrators to spend long days in the office—and even wind up sleeping in them overnight. Or get paged at 2 A.M. or on Thanksgiving...

From ACM TechNews

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Researchers Develop Webcam Tool to Improve Posture of Office Workers

A multidisciplinary team at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has developed a desktop Webcam tool that could help improve the ergonomic posture of office workers...

From ACM TechNews

Smart Software Spots Swaying Risk of a Crushing Crowd

The Fraunhofer Institute's Barbara Krausz has developed a system for determining when crowds have become too large by observing the way people sway slowly from...

DARPA Funds Hackers to Innovate Military Tech
From ACM TechNews

DARPA Funds Hackers to Innovate Military Tech

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently launched Cyber Fast Track, a program that will fund innovative cybersecurity efforts by groups...

Building Robots that Understand Human Emotions and Make People Healthier
From ACM News

Building Robots that Understand Human Emotions and Make People Healthier

 For most of us, the closest we get to a robot in daily life is a Roomba. But Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, director of the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab...

From ACM News

At a Hacker Conference, Plenty of Friendly Feds

 Why are the Feds hobnobbing with hackers? Defcon, a convention of computer hackers here, was crawling with federal agents on Friday. They smiled, shook hands,...

China's Supercomputing Goal: From 'zero To Hero'
From ACM News

China's Supercomputing Goal: From 'zero To Hero'

China basked in a moment of technological glory last November when it nudged out the U.S. as home of the world's fastest supercomputer. The achievement was short...

Costly Drone Is Poised to Replace ­-2 Spy Plane
From ACM News

Costly Drone Is Poised to Replace ­-2 Spy Plane

Tucked away here in the Mojave Desert, the assembly plant for the high-flying Global Hawk jet resembles a giant hobby shop. Work tables surround a handful of...

From ACM News

Shady Rat Hacking Is Not About China

Jeffrey Carr, author of O'Reilly Media's Inside Cyber Warfare, argues that McAfee's supposed revelations about large-scale Chinese hacking attacks are a smokescreen...

From ACM News

Operation Shady RAT May Be the Biggest Hack in History but Is No Surprise

Anybody involved in the IT and cybersecurity industry knows that every major industry and government agency around the world is under threat of intrusion through...

Crime's Digital Past
From ACM TechNews

Crime's Digital Past

Eight interdisciplinary groups of digital humanists recently met to discuss the results of research on London's Old Bailey courthouse's digitized archive. The...

Hard-Coded Password and Other Security Holes Found in Siemens Control Systems
From ACM News

Hard-Coded Password and Other Security Holes Found in Siemens Control Systems

A security researcher has uncovered a slew of vulnerabilities in Siemens industrial control systems, including a hard-coded password, that would let attackers...

Why Are China's Universities Losing Their Star Students?
From ACM News

Why Are China's Universities Losing Their Star Students?

It happens every summer. In the weeks after the annual National College Entrance Examination, new high school graduates wait for the list. For years, who gets...

China Aims to Renew Status As Scientific Superpower
From ACM News

China Aims to Renew Status As Scientific Superpower

China was probably the world's earliest technological superpower, inventing the plow, the compass, gunpowder, and block printing. Then, science in the Middle...

From ACM News

Pentagon Seeks a Few Good Social Networkers

The Pentagon is developing plans to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as both a resource and a weapon in future conflicts. Its research and...

Meet Dark Tangent, the Hacker Behind Black Hat and Def Con
From ACM News

Meet Dark Tangent, the Hacker Behind Black Hat and Def Con

The word "hacker" evokes all kinds of scary images. But Jeff Moss says hackers are exactly what the world needs more of, because they can make the Internet safer...

Face-Id Tools Pose New Risk
From ACM TechNews

Face-Id Tools Pose New Risk

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) researchers are studying how facial-recognition tools can be detrimental to privacy. In a recent test, the researchers were...

From ACM News

­s. And Them.

Someone types a command into a laptop, and Actroid-DER jerks upright with a shudder and a wheeze. Compressed air flows beneath silicone skin, triggering actuators...

Santa Clara ­niversity Math Scholar Fights Crime with Mad Math Skills
From ACM News

Santa Clara ­niversity Math Scholar Fights Crime with Mad Math Skills

George Mohler is a crime-fighting, math professor superhero—not that he'd ever call himself that.
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